La vallée

Movies set in PNG are thin on the ground. Movies actually filmed in PNG can be counted on one finger. 'Bruce Lee in PNG' was filmed in Hong Kong, I think; and the wonderful 'Krippendorf's Tribe' was shot in Hawaii. Recently, Alistair Grearson's 'Kokoda' was shot in the hills behind the Gold Coast. Do not let that stop you seeing either of the last two, but anyone who has lived in the Territory will tell you it cannot be replicated on a film set. If this movie wound up as a hippie National Geographic road trip, so what? What else could it be? The joint is unbelievable- their joints are unbelievable! Everyone who has lived there has felt they were privvy to the Last Paradise. As a hippie I would have given it 10 out of 10, but back then, I did not know PNG, I was just interested in The Floyd's latest Album. Now, as an ageing hippie, I give it a 7, but that is more a gauge of what I have lost than a reflection on this extraordinary film.

A must see, on SBS, very late; rather sad, given crap like 'Die Hard XXIV' will screen a zillion times in prime time between repeats of this.

Barbet Schroeder is in danger of becoming a legend in his own lifetime. From this rather beautiful hippie opus, to Single White Female and more recently, an episode of Mad Men, this is a man with no respect for boundaries. The main character in this 1971 film is Vivian (Bulle Ogier), a collector of rare feathers which she sells in a posh boutique. While on holiday in New Guinea she joins a hippie expedition, hoping to add more fluff to her collection. She's the wife of a diplomat, bourgeois, liberal and a 'sport' as she puts it. The primary aim of the trek is to locate a (possibly mythical) paradisaical valley way over yonder, kind of like Richard's pursuit of the perfect beach in the Alex Garland novel, but with a more metaphysical bent.

It's the journey not the arrival that grabs and cameraman Nestor Almendros, whose credits include Malick's Days of Heaven, really comes to the fore as his images compensate for any narrative slack. Eventually the group encounter the isolated but photogenic Magupa tribe, just about to start an incredible festival - cue more stunning images. That's about as dramatic as it gets - there's no manufactured events, just the group interacting with the natives and each other. For Vivian the journey becomes a voyage of self-discovery aided by some local hallucinogenics, though her newly-found freedom is tested both physically and philosophically by her lover as they approach their destination. By this time dialogue is sparse as the film slips into National Geographic mode. But it's Ogier who really keeps things together here, offering a riveting portrayal of a woman in transition. There's some discourse on the relative merits of the contrasting civilisations, and questions which throw doubt on the hippies belief in the superiority of the 'natural' way of life. Pink Floyd contribute the soundtrack (Obscured by Clouds) but its barely audible aside from the closing credits.

Without giving too much away, this is an intellectual road trip movie with a documentary atmosphere in many scenes. It is somewhat muddled for the first 15 minutes, but then you can really get into it (if you're ever going to). It relies on atmosphere more than plot, but it did have a clear meaning to me. Overall it's fairly sobering and I can't say it will leave you happy.

I didn't see this as a "hippie" film, rather a commentary on the human condition. One oddity was the interspersing of French subtitled dialog with segments of non-dubbed English. The scenery was very lush and I don't think a second of the film was shot in a studio.

People who didn't like this are probably in the short-attention-span crowd. I don't think this film has anything to do with being a Floyd fan. The music is mostly in the background and doesn't quite fit what you're watching anyway. Any number of low-key instrumental soundtracks may have made more sense. It really doesn't need music at all, except for the tribal chants. Only a few songs from the Floyd CD were apparent, but I know why they called the album "Obscured By Clouds."

I saw this film at the Plaza in New York City around 1981. I went to hear the Floyd music but I quickly became so engrossed that I forgot about the music. Determined to travel to the mysterious valley that is always obscured from the air by clouds, a group of Caucasians cross New Guinea. They meet isolated tribes (NOT African - this is New Guinea, remember), experience love and loss, discover themselves, etc. And I thought the ending was wonderful. A little Easy Rider, a little Sorcerer, a lot of atmosphere and style. Naturalist-docu-fiction. Unique and unforgettable.

It's not easy to do justice to La Vallee in a few sentences. It weaves adventure, anthropology, social criticism, nature, and relationships into a parable of self-revelation. The film focuses on Viviane, one of the beautiful people who know all good things except heart-felt passion. Literally by accident, her fascination with exotic feathers draws her into an expedition with a "family" of Utopian idealists. As they cross New Guinea in search of an isolated valley, Viviane simultaneously experiences a joyful odyssey across her suppressed inner landscapes. Sumptuously filmed events interlaced with moments of self-revelation transform Viviane from a pampered woman of the world to an impassioned child of nature, and beyond. Each character influences her personal quest differently: pragmatic enlightenment (Olivier), universal love (Hermine), visionary fanaticism (Gataen), oneness with nature (native tribe).

Outer and inner realities begin to merge, eventually reflecting and enhancing each other in mystical parallelism. She becomes possessed by a sense of seamless unity between her self and her environment. Feeling herself flow into the world around her is a joyful reward that richly compensates for forfeiting every accoutrement of civilization. Anyone expecting to see them giggling merrily over tropical drinks in a valley of palm trees and friendly monkeys is in for a rude shock. This is an honest film. Our little self-styled cult of postmodern zealots knows the price of following the inner path and they have prepared themselves to pay it fully. We do see their valley though we may not readily recognize it as paradise. The Valley obscured by clouds is the ultimate parallel symbol in this film of symbols: it is the undiscovered depths of ones being, and an enabling realm of detachment totally cut off from self-alienating civilizations. La Vallee marks a path by which one aspires to universal harmony through unfettered spiritual freedom.

Schroeder uses varying combinations of sound and picture as an expressive tool. As the story progresses, he steadily diminishes emphasis on words while increasing the importance of images. Conversations in rather bland settings dominate the first part of the film (excepting some rapt moments under the seductive spell of magic feathers). Gradually, visual elements gain prominence. The final scene is in the style of silent film, with only sparse dialog inserted like a few lines of printed text in a Chaplin movie. Our experience of this shift from word-biased content to image-biased content is also Viviane's experience as she gradually reaches into parts of herself that are beyond words. This structural analogy lets us join her inner transformation through our eyes and ears, thus making the abstract seem real. It also unifies style and substance in a way that contributes handsomely to the film's focus and intensity. Every aspect of this film was created solely by movie professionals. La Vallee is an impressive example of the unique potential of their craft.

Those who would turn to this film mostly to hear Pink Floyd's music should buy the CD instead. Three years later Pink Floyd released Wish You Were Here which has a similar theme. If you like Wish You Were Here, you will probably also like La Vallee.